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ady to appreciate a community of interests 

 between the European settlers and themselves. I 

 apprehend, on the contrary, that passionately attach- 

 ed as they are known to bs to their ancestral lands, 

 they might naturally regard the intrusion of Euro- 

 peans strangers as an encroachment arid a wrong 

 inflicted on themselves/ And such in. many if not 

 all places is undoubtedly the case. In the Pahalam 

 Valley of Kangra, a spot some have thought to 

 rival, in the picturesque beauty of its scenery, the 

 vale of Cashmere, there are about 50,000 acres of 

 pasture and other laud admirably fitted for tea 

 cultivation ; but not one acre will the few scattered 

 village communities permit to come into the hands 

 of Europeans, at ten times its actual value, as 

 estimated by the normal rates of the district. On 

 this point I am well informed, for holding pro- 

 perty iu the Valley, I was anxious to add to it by 

 securing more land; and the following extract of a 

 letter from my agent will as well illustrate my 

 subject, as the success which att ended my attempts. 

 " I have used all my powers of persuasion, to 

 induce the Z^nindars to sell me enough land to 

 complete the Raipoor estate ; but though I have 

 ffered as high as fifteen and twenty rupees an 

 tcre,* prices before unheard of in the country, 



* The Zemindars can sell, it must be recollected, nothing- but 

 lie proprietary ri^ht, subject after the expiry of the settlement, to 

 my assessment the Government chooses to impose. 



